“You look good. Your color is back. I was pretty worried about you.”
Jilly shrugged. “Sleep cures all.”
When she started to walk past, Walker reached out and snagged her wrists. His hand moved slowly up her shoulder and across the top of her thin cotton nightshirt. “Forget the water,” he said in a husky voice. “It can wait. This can’t.” His fingers opened on her cheek. Slowly, slowly he pulled her closer. She felt the muscles tighten at his chest as their bodies met.
Instantly the heat shot to life. There was no escaping the sensations that coiled into need. Walker’s eyes glinted with desire and the slow, appreciative way he studied her body left no doubt that he liked what he saw—and that he would enjoy seeing a whole lot more.
He kissed the curve of her shoulder and his hands circled her waist. “I wanted to do this ever since I got here last night.” He kissed the hollow beyond her ear and stroked the sensitive skin with his tongue. “You’ve got great ears. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed a woman’s ears before.” He shook his head. “And then there’s your neck. And your shoulders. Everything about you turns me on…” He kissed his way lower, tracing the hollows and curves.
Jilly closed her eyes in a haze of desire. It had never been slow and gentle before. No man had ever taken his time this way. She had never felt half as special, half as vulnerable as she did now.
The practical, logical part of her brain warned that being vulnerable was dangerous. This was not a man she could walk away from easily. Being touched this way would change things forever. Maybe even break her heart.
“You’re a dangerous man, Walker.”
“I’ll never hurt you, Jilly.”
“See? That’s exactly why you’re so dangerous. Because you say things like that—and I believe you.” She opened her hands, skimming his warm chest. “You make it feel too easy. You make me think that this could last and that it matters.”
“If it doesn’t matter, there’s no point in touching and being touched. It’s empty,” he said roughly. “But empty is the last thing I feel right now.”
Somehow her arms climbed up, twining behind his neck. He was tall, so she rose to meet him, urgent to claim his mouth and feel the hot brush of his tongue.
In an instant, the kiss changed. No longer slow and careful, Walker lifted her against him, his body tense. Jilly felt his hunger and the force of his control. When she opened her lips beneath his, he whispered her name in a groan.
Jilly tried to tell him to stop, but the words wouldn’t come. She had waited too long to be treasured this way. Just once, she told herself.
Just once to last her through the cold nights after she went back to Oregon to pick up the threads of her life and he was gone.
She felt his hands tighten and gasped as he swung her up against his chest. “Walker—”
“I want to feel you. That shirt you are wearing is driving me crazy, honey.”
Dimly, Jilly realized he was carrying her to the couch, not to the bed. Walker read the surprise in her face. “If I get you into that bed, we won’t leave this room for a week. Wedding or not.”
Jilly shivered at the rough edge of need in his voice. When they sank down onto the couch, she made a sound of protest. “It’s too small.”
“I like it tight,” he muttered. His hands opened, pulling her onto his lap. Their bodies moved, and her nightshirt rose higher as Walker coaxed her legs around his waist.
Desire pounded through her blood, sudden and sweet.
And yet, through the haze of her desire, Jilly fought against what he had said. It shouldn’t matter like this. Caring so deeply frightened her.
She rested her forehead against his and sighed as he traced the curve of her breast. “Walker…”
“You have a problem with this? Because for me, there are no problems. Touching you like this is the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time, Jilly.”
What was she supposed to say to that? And how was she supposed to keep her thoughts clear and controlled when he touched her so carefully, so perfectly?
Jilly traced his jaw. “I’m not complaining about this. This is as perfect as I ever hoped to find. It’s the rest of what you said, about mattering. I’ve never had anyone matter to me this way before. I don’t want to screw that up, Walker. Even though there’s next to no hope that we have a future.” She sighed as his fingers traced the sensitive column of her spine and opened just below her breasts. Even then she fought to explain. “How can we? You live here. I live in Arizona and Oregon. There’s my career, even though it doesn’t hold much promise right now. There’s also my health. I wish I could believe in happily-ever-after, Walker, but that’s not my way.”
Jilly felt him nod against her hair. “Yeah, that’s all true. A whole lot of things should be keeping us apart. And yet here we are, with your legs wrapped around my waist and my hand buried in your hair. And I’m pretty damn sure it’s the best thing either of us has ever felt. So we’re going to forget about those questions, honey.”
“How?” Jilly whispered, moving into his touch, wishing there were no clothes separating them. “We can’t exactly move your mountain to Oregon. And though I love Lost Creek, I couldn’t see myself living here full-time. Plus, I’m not planning on a relationship. I’d be no good at it.”
“Seems like we have a problem then.”
But he didn’t move. Neither did Jilly.
It felt too good to sit this way, safe in the curve of his arms and the heat of his body. It felt like a dream she’d glimpsed dimly but had never seen clearly. Now, with the full clarity of what she had found, and her joy in Walker’s touch, it felt unspeakably cruel to have to give it up.
Temptation pounded through her. She could feel the strength of his body and the force of his need as the bond between them tightened, stronger than words.
He had seduced her from the first moment they met, captivating her with his calm strength and cool intelligence. And Winslow had claimed the last corners of her heart.
And right on the heels of that dizzying revelation came another. Jilly had never loved this way before. Her friends were her world, but that kind of love was calm and predictable, taking problems and laughter equally in stride.
This thing she had with Walker…would never be calm or predictable. This was like a landslide after spring rains, toppling the cliffs above the cove. You could fling out your arms, but you couldn’t hold your footing against it. It just forced you along in its path.
And for Jilly giving up control was the most frightening thing in life.
“Hey.” Walker tilted up her face, staring into her eyes. She saw the heat and the racing desire, mirroring her own, but there was a trace of humor there as well. He almost seemed to be enjoying the situation in a dark way.
“You knew this would happen,” Jilly said slowly.
“I hoped,” he corrected.
“If you smile, or look smug, I’m going to punch you,” she said thickly.
“I won’t smile. Promise. But I may grin, just a little.”
“This just doesn’t—happen to me,” she stammered. “Not like this, so I can’t think of anything but touching you and being touched.”
“I know just how you feel, honey.”
“This messes everything up,” Jilly said. “This feels important and I don’t want important.”
“Definitely feels that way.” Walker kissed the little hollow behind her ear and drew her body against him until there was no more space between them and her heart beat against his. He tugged off her shirt slowly and his hands opened on her breasts, rough calluses to soft, burning skin. “You’re so beautiful.”
She closed her eyes on a sigh as his hand slid up her leg and found her heat. He touched her with slow strokes until she gasped, pressing closer, driven by need.
“Stop arguing, Jilly. Let go.”
And the plunge came in a heartbeat, thundering down, pulling Jilly in its swift, sudden violence right down toward the sea.
Had a man with so much strength ever touched her so gently?
The answer hammered through her blood. Not like this. Never like this.
No other man ever would.
And then with a choked gasp Jilly stopped fighting. She gave in to the pleasure and let her heart answer, raking his shoulders while desire broke in a storm, flinging her to shuddering oblivion.
* * *
TIME TREMBLED.
Jilly felt the minutes pass, marked in the pounding of her heart and the warmth of his breath against her face.
She didn’t move. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t think straight, either. There was too much to understand and explore, but the effort was beyond her. She wanted to go on drifting like this, feeling his fingers in her hair and his strong body locked against hers.
How easy it would be to give up everything she was and start her life over from this second. And how dangerous.
Slowly she pulled free and studied him, seeing the calm pleasure in his eyes and the dark understanding of what had just happened between them.
“Walker.” She took a short breath. “I—don’t know what to say.”
“I do,” he said roughly. “Beautiful comes to mind first. Strong. Graceful. Incredibly stubborn,” he added, smiling slightly.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I figured that.”
“I meant—what just happened. Like I said, that doesn’t happen to me. Well, it has. Of course it has. But not like this, until my body simply melts and I can’t think or stop wanting you to touch me again.” Jilly caught a strangled breath. “Oh, hell.”
Walker cut off her disjointed flow of words with a deep, searching kiss, his hands steady and anchoring. When they could finally breathe again, he released her. “There’s no need to explain. I understand how fast a fire can start, and how fast it can race out of control,” he added. “And that’s about the nicest compliment you could pay me.”
Jilly looked away, flushing. “But, Walker—you didn’t—” Her face filled with fierce heat. “I mean, you haven’t—”
He opened his hand and locked it over hers. “Not because I didn’t think about it. Not because I don’t want to. But right now things are too complicated between us. You put a lot of questions on the table, Jilly. Somehow we have to sort out the answers. We need to work this out as we go. Because it matters.” His mouth feathered over hers and his tongue slid into a slow, heated entrance. Jilly felt her heart drop straight to her toes.
How did he do that so fast, so well? They weren’t even in bed, for heaven’s sake. They were sitting on the couch and Walker was still dressed. Even then he had her racing out of control, craving the blind heat of skin against skin.
Wanting whatever he would give her because she trusted him completely.
She closed her eyes, telling herself they would stop in a minute, and that the insanity wouldn’t happen again. But not yet, not when touching him was so achingly new and her whole body sang with the joy of discovery.
She rested her palm on his chest, thrilled to feel the hammer of his heart. Leaning down, she kissed his shoulder, the base of his neck and an old silver scar below his collarbone. “Did it hurt when you were wounded?”
“It was a long time ago, honey.”
Jilly traced another scar above his elbow and another near his wrist. Each one left her hollow inside. He had lived with danger and conquered it. Jilly wondered what the cost of that personal struggle had been. Could you ever leave those kinds of memories behind?
Her hand cupped his shoulder gently, where another scar gleamed in a jagged path. “Was Winslow there with you when it happened?”
“Always. He watched my back, and I watched his. He’s the toughest marine I know,” Walker said. There was no mockery or humor in his voice. Only deep emotion.
Jilly nodded. She understood the deep bond between man and dog now. She understood Winslow’s unquestioning devotion and Walker’s constant protectiveness. That kind of loyalty awed her.
Walker whispered her name and gathered her up against his chest, settling back on the couch until she lay stretched out against him. “We’re not going to figure this out in an hour or a day, Jilly. Why don’t we just enjoy what we have?”
“I think I just did enjoy myself,” she murmured. She closed her eyes, listening to the rumble of his heart beneath her ear. She slid her leg between his, sighing when he ran his hand slowly down her spine and cupped her hip.
He was driving her wild with his control. She wanted to feel him, to touch all of him. “Why are you still dressed?” Jilly reached for the waistband of his jeans. “Take these off.”
“Afraid I can’t.” Walker gave a rueful smile. “We don’t have enough time.”
Jilly frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Jonathan called while you were asleep. We’ve got a wedding rehearsal dinner tonight, it appears. The ceremony is set. Tomorrow morning we get married in the chapel here at the resort. But Mamie kept everything small.” His lips twitched. “She only invited two hundred and fifty of her closest friends and family. A whole lot of them will be at the rehearsal dinner tonight.” He pulled her closer and kissed her hotly. His tongue slid over hers and he made a low groan of pleasure. “I’d rather be here, touching you, honey,” he said hoarsely. “But we’d better get moving.”
Jilly wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.
But there was no going back now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“YOU LOOK TIRED.” Jonathan paced the hall where the wedding rehearsal was being held. In the main room Mamie held court with a few of her closest friends—ninety-two at last count.
“I’m fine. Jilly and I are both fine. It’s been a little stressful, that’s all. And…” Walker reached a hand to his shoulder and frowned.
“What is it, Walker? Is your shoulder hurting again? Should I get the doctor?”
“No need. It’s just this new medicine they’re trying on me. It’s pretty wicked on my system. But I’m good to go.” Walker ran a hand through his hair and glanced out at the crowd assembled in the resort dining room. “Did Mamie really have to invite half of Lost Creek to this dinner?”
“This is nothing.” Jonathan grinned. “Wait until you see the crowd tomorrow at the wedding.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Walker muttered.
* * *
FROM THE FIRST MOMENT she stepped inside the dining room, Jilly was swept up in excited congratulations. The people here were amazing, she thought. They didn’t judge or question. If they chose you for a friend, they simply welcomed you with open arms. You knew you could rely on them for anything.
At the front of the room Mamie watched every detail with quiet joy radiating from her frail face.
Jilly felt a hand touch her shoulder. She didn’t have to turn her head to know it was Walker. The bond between them was humming, tighter than words. Once that knowledge would have frightened her, but now it didn’t.
“You want to sit down?”
“No. I’m fine.”
Walker studied the line of people who were still entering the dining room and shook his head. “Mamie sure knows how to throw a party.”
“She certainly does. And I’m having a wonderful time. I think I should eat a little something though. I’m starting to feel light-headed.”
“Are you feeling sick?” Instantly Walker’s hand cupped her elbow, guiding her to a chair. “Sit down. I’ll get a plate of food and a bottle of water for you.”
“Walker, I’m fine. I just don’t want to go too long without eating. I think that’s been part of my problem. Or maybe I’m not so stressed so now I realize when I’
m hungry.”
“I’m going for food anyway. Don’t move.” Walker looked behind him and gave a low whistle. Winslow, busy entertaining half-a-dozen children with tricks, jumped up and bounded across the room. “Stay, Winslow.”
Instantly the dog settled on the floor beside Jilly.
Walker said something low that she couldn’t understand. The order made Winslow stretch out and rest his head against Jilly’s feet.
No, she wouldn’t be going anywhere. Winslow would see to that.
She looked down and ran a hand through the dog’s fur. She didn’t know how or when it had happened, but this whole town felt like home. Her real home was with her friends on Summer Island, in the small cobbled streets where she knew every corner and every house. But Jilly had discovered a new home.
And how in the world was she going to leave this behind once their fake wedding was over?
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
THAT NIGHT, WHILE THE rehearsal dinner was in full swing, Jilly and Walker slipped away. Jilly couldn’t sleep, restless and lonely in her room. For the sake of appearances, Walker and Winslow were sleeping in another part of the resort.
She’d finally fallen asleep around 5:00 a.m., only to jump awake at the sound of loud knocking on her door. When she saw the clock, she gasped.
Ten o’clock? It couldn’t be that late. Grabbing a robe, she walked to the door and peered out.
Mamie and Jonathan were waiting outside, looking anxious when Jilly answered their knock.
“Is everything okay? Your gown is done and the seamstress wants to do a last fitting. After that, Red will deliver food here to your room, so you don’t have to leave. He’s making a big ranch breakfast for you, Jilly.”
Jilly put a hand on her stomach. She didn’t really feel like spicy chili or huevos rancheros, not today. Why was she having bridal day jitters? This wasn’t the real thing.
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